For a large group of persons intermittent catheterisation is a daily-life procedure, taking place several times a day. Typically catheters for intermittent catheterisation are used by patients suffering from urinary incontinence or by disabled individuals like para- or tetraplegics who may have no control permitting voluntary urination and for whom catheterisation may be the way of urinating. Using an intermittent catheter, the bladder may be drained through a natural or artificial urinary canal.
Existing catheters are designed to minimise the risk of sores in the mucous membrane and to give substantially no sensation of pain during insertion. Accordingly known catheters are typically provided with a smooth and slippery surface optimised for safe and comfortable insertion in the urinary canal.
The risk of urinary tract infections is a major problem for persons using intermittent catheterisation. Intermittent catheters are typically provided in sterile packing and in order to avoid contamination prior to use the catheter should preferably be handled without touching the insertable portion with the hands.
As many users of intermittent catheters have reduced dexterity, intermittent catheters should be easy to unwrap, prepare and handle in the catheterisation procedure.
Typically catheters are designed for one-time use and accordingly the costs for producing, packing and sterilising a catheter is an important issue.
The availability of catheter assemblies, which are compact and discrete to carry along and dispose via the garbage collection in addition to being easy to use, even for individuals with reduced dexterity, significantly improves quality of life for a large group of individuals.
WO03/002179 discloses a collapsible catheter set featuring a telescopic joint between a catheter handle and a catheter element with a proximal end adapted to be inserted in a urinary duct. The catheter element may have a hydrophilic coating and the cavity between the inner side of the handle and the outer side of the catheter element in collapsed position may be adapted to contain a liquid swelling medium for swelling said hydrophilic coating. Though handy to use the device is relatively complicated to manufacture and is dependent on delicate mechanic solutions to work as intended.
WO03/002179 also discloses a catheter set featuring a catheter element with a connector section and a handle element, wherein the catheter element and the handle element are separable. The handle element is adapted to accommodate the catheter element. Before use the catheter element is pulled out of the handle element and connected to the handle element to constitute a catheter device. The preparation of this catheter set requires some dexterity as the catheter element must be manipulated touching only the connector section, which is a small part of the catheter element.
In conclusion there is still a need for a catheter assembly, which is compact, simple to produce and simple to use, even for users with a reduced dexterity.